


The Adventure Continues

by Leni



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Post-Finale, Post-Series, background Gideon Gold, background Regina Mills
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-21
Updated: 2018-05-21
Packaged: 2019-05-09 20:47:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,152
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14723331
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leni/pseuds/Leni
Summary: The world has changed around them, but it doesn't mean that they must change their plans.





	The Adventure Continues

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Of_Princes_and_Savages](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Of_Princes_and_Savages/gifts).



> @of-princes-and-savages asked ‘What if…Rumpelstiltskin and Belle were to pass Weaver and Lacey on the street?’ 
> 
> Blink and you’ll miss the prompt!

Returning to Storybrooke seemed inevitable now. No matter which world they visited, there would be a road leading to the Maine town. Nonetheless, they avoided the town, postponing their return, content to explore this new world that no book could yet explain.

“Does this mean we’re Regina’s subjects now?” Belle asked once that particular bit of news reached their ears, smiling to show that she wasn’t actually concerned.

Rumpelstiltskin snorted. “She wishes.”

Belle privately thought that Regina was cleverer than to ever pull any authority on her former teacher, but their relationship had gone through so many twists that she wouldn’t bet on it.

“Gideon says it will be an overworked political position in short, since it gives every realm someone to whom to bring their complaints about their new neighbors.” She still couldn’t believe that she’d gotten a second chance to meet the grown version of her child, one who remembered her for more than an inscription in an old book, and who never doubted his parents’ love for him. “He also thinks they’ll go to the new queen when magic starts flaring up - and it will.”

Rumpelstiltskin nodded. “Too much of it for such little space. There was a  _reason_  for separate realms.” Though his affinity to magic was diminished, some of it remained. There were also centuries worth of studies on the subject, as travel between worlds had been his pet subject for so long. “I’m looking forward to Gid’s next letter. I can’t imagine how Wonderland is faring, it was maddening enough without several versions of it annexed together - and let’s see how they take to the idea of the heir of their Queen of Hearts ruling them. I must remember to tell Gideon to watch himself there.”

This must be her favorite part of Regina’s creation. That she and Rumple stayed in touch with the scholar their son had become; Gideon investigating what changes magic had undergone, while she and Rumpelstiltskin and their five-year-old were happy to keep wandering. That alone made her approve of whatever had convinced Regina to meld all magical realms into one.

“They say it was an unanimous decision,” Belle reminded him.

“Could be, could be.” Rumpelstiltskin shrugged. He saw the matter as a curiosity and nothing else. “I can’t think of Regina arranging to step into power without the people’s approval. She learned that, at least.” Then he smirked. “It would be ironic that they arranged for her to take the job instead. Oh yes. I can see that coming down a lot easier than the other way.”

“She could have refused the job,” Belle said, unable to think of anyone pushing Regina into a decision she wouldn’t have made for herself, “so I guess she likes the idea of keeping the peace.” 

“Regina, peaceful mediator.” Rumpelstiltskin chuckled. “I never foresaw that when she was born.”

Belle had to admit that the role seemed unfit to the fiery woman she remembered. Everyone changed with time, though. According to her older son, the Good Queen was from the same timeline as he, three decades in the future. “Everyone changes,” she said, threading her arm with Rumpelstiltskin’s. “We know it doesn’t take a curse breaking to make someone into the best version of themselves.”

It was embarrassing to think that they’d gone for weeks without noticing that Rumple’s curse was lifted. He had assumed the shift he’d felt was due to the convergence of realms, but since their lives needed little help from his powers, they hadn’t given the matter much though. It wasn’t until rumors of the Dark One’s death reached them that they’d checked the dagger and found its blade clean of her husband’s name.

“I guess.” Rumpelstiltskin smiled, the weight of his curse gone forever and his magic, though remarkably weaker, all his own. “All I’m saying is that it’s a good thing that they thought to give Regina a crown to go with the job, or her mother would be rolling in her grave.”

Belle didn’t like to discuss Cora, mostly because she suspected that Rumple had more fondness for the woman than he’d admit, especially to her. She’d never met her husband’s former lover, but since Cora’s only effect in Belle’s life had been to set off the chain of events that had resulted in Belle losing more weeks of her life and given birth to a parallel version of her, she had no reason to feel any warmth for the other woman.

She ignored the mention of the mother, and kept their conversation focused on the daughter.

“It makes sense that people decided to create a new royal seat. The other realms have their own sovereigns, but none of them would claim the doppelgängers.” It had been shocking, to be visiting Seattle and run into a replica of her husband. How Det. Weaver had met Lacey French, and why they were together, was a mystery she and Rumple preferred not to explore, given how the pair had inherited the worst traits of themselves and still were wildly attracted to each other. “Someone has to take responsibility over them.”

“And since most did originate with the curse Regina cast in the Enchanted Forest, I guess she had to step up,” Rumpelstiltskin mused, having already shared his theory that there must be a Mr. Gold somewhere, probably managing the pawnshop they’d left behind. There might even be a version of Belle wandering in the town, her memories lost. “I wish her luck.”

Belle took his hand. “I wish her peace.”

At that moment, a group of people crossed their way. Several of them stopped in their tracks at the sight of Belle and Rumpelstiltskin, and started whispering to their friends, gaping at Rumpelstiltskin the whole while.

Rumpelstiltskin sighed. “I wish people would stop staring at me as if I’d come back from the dead,” he grumbled, loud enough that the group flinched as one. “Once was enough.”

Belle led him away, unwilling to have to explain again that they knew nothing of the unprecedented status of the new world.

“Maybe we should return to Storybrooke after all,” she said after they were again alone on the path. They had left in ostensible good terms with the others, but the lack of communication through the last four years proved their ties were thin at best. Still, they could use information beyond third- or fourth-hand gossip. “It wouldn’t take long to get there.”

Their eyes met, and they knew the other was thinking of the odds they’d pass through the town and make their visits unobserved. Storybrooke had never been just another unremarkable coastal town, and with Regina’s court settled there, it wouldn’t have grown any quieter. To take their child now, with such upheaval so recent…

Both shook their heads at the same time.

“You’re right,” Belle answered herself, though Rumpelstiltskin hadn’t said anything. “Not yet.”

 

The End  
20/05/18

**Author's Note:**

> After the finale, my choices were to rant or write. Thank you to everyone who sent me a prompt so I could do the latter!
> 
> I'd love to hear your thoughts!


End file.
